Vietnam, Laos further comprehensive ties

Vietnamese and Lao experts met in Luang Prabang city, Laos , on
August 10 to review the two countries’ cooperation in the first months
of 2012.

The meeting aims to prepare the mid-term session of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee to be held soon in the city.

At the event, deputy head of the Vietnam-Laos Cooperation
Sub-committee Cao Viet Sinh, who is also Deputy Minister of Planning and
Investment, and his Lao counterpart Phonsuc Khonsombath said that both
sub-committees have actively implemented agreements to beef up
traditional relations and their special friendship.

They said both countries have recorded positive results in bilateral
cooperation; safeguarded social security and order; and implemented a
project to reinforce and upgrade the national border marker system at a
correct pace.

The education sectors of the two
countries have coordinated with their relevant ministries and sectors in
carrying out a scheme to improve the quality and effectiveness of their
cooperation in education and training, they said.

At
present, Vietnam has 435 investment projects in Laos totalling 5.2
billion USD, becoming a leading investor among 53 countries and
territories investing in the country. Two-way trade reached 465 million
USD in the first half of the year.

However, both sides
underscored the need to bring into play their strategies to deploy
agreements reached by the two countries’ leaders for the Vietnam-Laos
Friendship Year 2012. These agreements focus particularly on education,
human resources training, investment cooperation; the early signing of
an agreement on investment encouragement and protection to replace the
1996 agreement, and the regular exchanges of information to promote the
two countries’ comprehensive cooperation.-VNA